By Kelvin Chan, Business Writer
LONDON (AP) --European Union regulators opened an investigation Wednesday into graphics chipmaker Nvidia's $40 billion purchase of chip designer Arm over concerns it would limit competition, adding to global scrutiny of the deal.
The European Commission said it's concerned the combined company would have the ability and incentive to restrict access to technology from United Kingdom-based Arm Ltd., whose chip designs power the vast majority of the world's smartphones.
The commission, which is the EU's top antitrust authority, said it worried the deal would result in higher prices, less choice and reduced innovation in the semiconductor industry.
Nvidia Corp., based in Santa Clara, California, said last year that it was buying Arm from Japanese technology giant Softbank. The deal raised concerns that Arm would abandon its neutral business model of licensing its chip designs to hundreds of tech companies, including many of Nvidia's rivals.
"Our investigation aims to ensure that companies active in Europe continue having effective access to the technology that is necessary to produce state-of-the-art semiconductor products at competitive prices," said EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who's in charge of competition and digital issues for the bloc.
The commission said Nvidia had offered concessions to address preliminary concerns but that they weren't enough to ease "serious doubts" about the deal.
Arm referred requests for comment to Nvidia, which said it's "working closely" with the commission.
"We look forward to the opportunity to address their initial concerns and continue demonstrating that the transaction will help to accelerate Arm and boost competition and innovation, including in the EU," Nvidia said in a statement.
The commission has until March 15 to decide whether to clear the deal. The EU concerns echo those cited by the U.K's competition watchdog, which opened its own investigation earlier this year.
Nvidia has pledged to maintain Arm's open licensing model and customer neutrality, keep Arm's headquarters in Cambridge, England, and expand its British staff. Nvidia previously said the purchase would not be completed until early 2022 because of expected scrutiny, including from regulators in the U.S. and China.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More